Recap: Seattle vs. Oakland

Seattle, WA (SportsNetwork.com) - Sonny Gray struck out nine in seven innings to lead the Oakland Athletics to a 3-1 decision over the Seattle Mariners to even this three-game set from Safeco Field.

Gray (2-0) tossed 102 pitches, yielding just a run on five hits before giving way to the bullpen. Sean Doolittle retired all four batters he faced and Luke Gregerson finished it off for his first save of the season.

"I definitely felt good tonight and was able to make a lot of pitches," said Gray.

Josh Donaldson had a two-run homer, Coco Crisp scored twice and John Jaso had a pair of singles for the A's, winners in five of six.

Erasmo Ramirez (1-2) went five innings, allowing all three runs on six hits for Seattle, which got an RBI groundout in the first inning from Robinson Cano but went 0-of-10 with runners in scoring position as a team.

"He (Ramirez) just did not have command," said Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon. "I didn't see command of the fastball or the secondary pitches. It was a tough night for him right from the start."

Crisp reached on an infield single to start the game. After Ramirez struck out Jed Lowrie for the first out, he left one up in the zone to Donaldson, who blasted it deep to left field for an early 2-0 margin.

Abraham Almonte and Brad Miller ripped consecutive singles to open the home half of the first. Almonte scored on Cano's grounder to third, but Gray settled down and retired the next two to leave Miller stranded.

With runners on the corners in the third, Brandon Moss' drive to left-center appeared to be caught by a sliding Dustin Ackley, but the young leftfielder lost the ball on the exchange and it popped out. Crisp scored for a 3-1 lead.

Seattle put a runner in scoring position in the fourth, sixth and seventh innings against Gray, but failed to put any more runs across.

Game Notes

Both teams had seven hits ... Scott Kazmir and Chris Young are set to take the
hill in Sunday's rubber match ... Oakland went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring
position, leaving seven men on base.